Fuzz-ball to the Rescue
by AkaNoKarasu
Summary: Being re-born isn't all they paint out to be, and who said you had to be reborn in your own world, or as a human? Now a furry animal walking on four paws, how do you help people, when you can't even help yourself? (Warning pre-gen OC's)
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

How did I find myself in such a stupid situation I will never know.

One second you're at home, eating your cereal, minding your own business, the next you are covered in fur and walking on all fours, in a strange world where people find it normal to jump from roof to roof like in Assassin's Creed.

Alright, perhaps it wasn't such a transition, actually, I'm pretty sure I died at some point, but eh, never mind. Then I laid the faith of an entire world into the hands of a girl with a short temper, yeah, wasn't one of my best idea I will tell you.

Let me tell you something, when they tell you, you can be re-born what they don't tell you is that you don't have to be reborn a human, well, at least I wasn't reborn as a child, but t was still pretty odd, to say the least. I guess I just appeared out of nowhere, then again, I knew exactly where I had appeared from I just couldn't say anything.

But, first, how about we start from the beginning.

First things first. Find out where I am, and find a mirror while I'm at it.

This town or village, I really didn't know was strange, there were rocks, everywhere! It was so not nice to walk round like that with my sensitive paws!

So yeah, turns out that once I found a like outside this place and saw my reflection it really didn't surprise me that I stared back at the face of a cat, a Birman cat if ?m not mistaken. Well, at least I'm pretty, for a cat that is.

My face look like it got splattered by brown paint, with clear blue eyes staring at me. My ear were the same colour as my face, the most of my body however was actually white, with the exception of my legs which were covered in light brown fur, resembling leg warmers, while my paw remaining a solid white and my tail a light brown like my legs, it was also fluffy which I kind of liked. While I had never been beautiful as a human, I could quite certainly say I was a beautiful cat. Hah, at least I had one thing going for me.

Alright, concentrate, where are you? Hmm, now that was a million dollar question. Where was I? Come on Doris, think. Ah, yes my name is, or rather was Doris. I know, not rather adventurous. Ah, who am I kidding, I hated my name, made me sound like some old uptight lady. Oh well... can't help it, though now... Ah, later, later, first, finding out where I was.

"I'm the worst, I'm a freakin' failure. Damn it!" I jumped slightly at the loud scream. A girl, definitely. Still, I wasn't too keen on approaching anybody, ah just gonna have to make sure I'm not see then. Which, might I add, will be quite a task in this wasteland of rocks.

When I finally managed to approach, hiding behind a bolder I found a most amusing sight. A teenage girl, perhaps no older then fifteen was smashing a rock with her bare hands. Why that was amusing? She was spurting random curses as she went, looking more like a child with a temper tantrum.

Instead of a laugh a strange sounding meowing noise escape my mouth giving away my position. I thought I could make a bolt for it, but unfortunately I didn't know the girl was this fast. She managed to catch me by the scruff of my neck before I could even make 5 steps. I, of course struggled in her grip not liking the way she lifted me up from the floor like a rag doll.

"Let me go!" Strangely enough, instead of meowing sound like I expected, actual words came out of my mouth.

The girl's glassy green eyes stared into my ocean blue ones, wide with surprise. For what felt like the longest time neither of us said anything before I finally got fed up and asked sarcastically, "Well, are you going to release me now?"

To my utter surprise she nodded slowly setting me to the ground. I sighed, satisfied when I felt the ground beneath my feet, eh, paws.

For some strange reason I felt the urge to lick my right paw, so I did. It was strangely satisfying. After that I looked up to find the girl still staring at me, her head titled to the side, examining me.

"What?" I asked, annoyed with the whole situation until I got a better look at her. Not, it wasn't the tanned skin, or the shoulder length brown hair that got my attention, neither was it the average height of the girl. Oh no, it was the headband tied to her right tight, the symbol of Kumogakure clearly visible on it.

No, on no. Oh, why? Why did it have to be ninjas? Why couldn't it have been pirates? I don't like the jumping, or the magic tricks, that was my sister's area. Alright, she did force me to sit through the whole (well at least until the last episode out) anime, and I had to read the damn manga because m mother thought that I wasn't spending enough time with my little sister and I should be a good older sibling and take interest in my little sister's life. And look where that brought me? This was probably her dream, but certainly not mine. And to top it off I'm a bloody cat!

I hadn't even realized that I was grumbling until I heard the voice of the kunoichi above me ask if I was alright.

"Eh, yeah, I guess." I managed to mumble out. I was _**not **_ok, but what the heck. I couldn't very well tell her who or rather what I really was.

"Hm, are you a ninja cat? Did I do something wrong, is it about me not being fit to pass the chunin exams? Or is it about that prank somebody pulled on Dodai, which wasn't me! Please don't punish me!" She continued rambling and mumbling out apologies and promises as I could only stare unable to stop the madness.

"Oi. OI! Girly, shut it, you're making my ears bleed. No, I'm not a ninja cat, uh, at least I don't think so and I'm not here to punish you either. Jeez, what kind of village is this?" But the girl was barely paying attention, instead sulking a bit away from where I was sitting, a dark cloud looming over her. I sighed, I really should not be doing this, then again, I shouldn't be here either, so who is anybody to judge me.

"Oi, if you want to pass the chunin exams, perhaps I can be of service." She immediately brightened up before her expression fell again.

"Uh, but you're not a ninja cat." I nodded.

"True, but I do know a trick or two." I said grinning. I imagined I probably looked like the Cheshire cat, but hey, that was alright, I was a cat after all.

"Really, thank you!" And I found myself being hugged to death by a way-too-thankful genin of Kumogakure.

...

After I had finally preyed the girl of off me I questioned her upon her name.

"My name is Mariko, what about you, shishou?"

_Shishou? Doesn't that meaning... _

"Oi, girl I ain't your master, seriously... I'm a cat." The girl just shrugged.

"But you're going to help me prepare for the chunin exams, no? So that makes you my teacher of sort, right Neko-shishou?"

I just groaned, that girl had a strange logic, but I wasn't going to argue about it with her. Ah, yes, a name, let's see, what can I say, I certainly ain't calling myself Doris again. Then again, what could I call myself, no names were coming to me. Ah think, ah, I got it.

"Noriko." The girl stopped her rambling about the exams to give me a confused look. Annoyed I elaborated.

"My name is Noriko." She gave me a happy smile at which I could only sigh. What had I gotten myself into.

...

"Come on Neko-shishou, let's go to my apartment, I think I got some fish you can eat." Now that she mentioned it, I was quite hungry, so I wasn't about to turn down the offer of free food. Though somehow I didn't think it was going to be free. Somehow I had the feeling this girl was going to make me work quite hard. Oh well, no sense to dwell on it now.

She insisted on calling me _Neko-shishou _despised me telling her my _name. _Oh well, can't really convince her, she was a strange one, reminded me of Naruto, sort of. Just without the demon.

Hm, now that I think about it, where was I in the timeline. Hmm, not that it's important seeing as I can't help. Seeing as I was a a _**bloody cat! **_

"Oi, Mariko-san, you think your parent will be fine with you dragging a cat home?" I really did not want to be chased by an angry mother with a broom.

Mariko gave me a small, but sad smile. Oh come on, don't tell me she doesn't have any parents! What is it with orphans and this series?!

"Actually, I live with my aunt. But, don't worry, I'm sure she will like you, but she is on a mission now, so we will have to wait with introductions."

I nodded soaking in the information, well, at least she didn't live alone. That made it slightly better, but only slightly.

...

I could almost see it, the giant sweat drop running down the back of my head.

"Uh, Mariko-san are you sure nobody broke into the apartment or something?" She turned her confused green eyes on me. "What would you think that?"

Well, apart from the fact the place looked like a bomb went off in there with all the cloths scattered round, and empty food cartoons, no reason.

"Uh, you said I was your _shishou _right?" She nodded eagerly.

"Then here is your first task." She looked so eager; it almost made me feel bad, _almost. _"Clean up!" Her face fell from happy to depressed in the matter of a second, I could have laughed, if I wasn't a cat that is. Turns out I just make strange hissing sounds instead of producing laugher, so I was sticking with a silent, inner chuckle.

...

"You know, you're a really strange girl." I started as I watched the girl clean the two bedroom apartment. She briefly stopped in scoping up cloths to look at me.

"What do you mean, shishou?"

"Well, you tell me, I'm not the one taking orders from a talking cat I just met mere hour ago."

She had a sweat drop running down the back of her head, her eyes closed as she took in what I just said.

"Uh?"

I just shook my head. "Never mind." I glanced at her.

"Don't put the dirty cloths into the closet!"

...

"Well, I gotta admit Mariko-san, the place is spotless." She gave me a satisfied grin.

"Thank you, shishou!"

"Can't you just call me Noriko when we are not training?" Mariko nodded.

"Sure, Noriko-sama! You can call me Mari." I nodded, well at least she was respectful, I will give her that.

"Alright kid, Mari-chan it is." She beamed at me, and somehow I couldn't find it in me to say anything snide or rude. She seemed so hopeful I could help her, but still, she shouldn't she at least be a little suspicious about a talking cat?

...

"Wow, you sure like tuna." Mumbled the brown haired kunoichi as I practically inhaled the fish before me.

"I'm a cat, what did you expect? Besides I was hungry," I muttered after I finished the heavenly fish.

Mari-chan only nodded. "That's fine, though I'm afraid you ate all the fish."

I sulked slightly, damn and it was really tasty too. "Fine, now that I ate, why don't you tell me about yourself."

Mariko immediately went into a frenzy. I sighed inwardly, damn could the girl talk.

"As you know my name is Mariko, Tachibana Mariko that is. My parent were ninja, but got killed during a mission, so I live with my aunt, my father's sister. I used to live in Yukigakure when I was little, but after my parent's got killed, I had to go live with my aunt, since she moved here to get married, eh that didn't turn out well. Anyway, I'm a genin, 13 years old and am supposed to take my chunin exams in 2 months time." Then she finally proceeded to breath. Damn, that was fast, almost too fast.

"Alright... What's your chakra nature?" She gave me a blank stare.

"Chakra nature? No idea." I restrained the urge to sigh.

"Alright... What about taijutsu and ninjutsu or genjutsu? Any good at those?"

I watched as she scratched her head thinking. "Well, I can make clones? My taijutsu is not _that _bad, I don't know any genjutsu." She looked rather down after she finished.

"Damn. How did you become a genin anyway?" She just groaned hiding her face in her hands.

"I don't know! I will never pass the exams!" I sighed.

"Kid you could always take them next year."

She shook her head. "No! I have to pass, I can't let him be right!" I nearly fell over, seriously, she is doing this to prove somebody wrong?

"Look kid, unless you start training because you want to became stronger and not to prove somebody that you are, you're never gonna amount to anything!" She looked a bit surprised at my words, going silent.

"I-"

"Listen, I get it, somebody put you down and now you wanna prove to them that you can make it. Really that's fine, but as long as that is your primal motivation, I'm afraid I'm going to have to tell you that it just won't do."

She gave me a nod. "Right, well then Noriko-sama, what do you suggest?"

I grinned, just what I had been waiting for. "Well, I'm glad you asked. First we are going to work on your confidence and motivation and then we are going to train!"

She looked plain confused. "Work on my confidence and motivation? How are we going to do that?"

"Ah leave that to me."

Good, was I glad I used to be a karate instructor or what? I knew those self-defence lessons would pay of one day!

...

"Alright girly, your first task is to tell me about that person you wanna prove wrong." At first she seemed like she wanted to protest, but one look and she shut her moth before finally answering the question.

For our training session I had us moved to one of the training field, Mari-chan showed me to.

"Well, he is arrogant, full of himself, thinks he is better just because he is already a jonin, I bet it's only because he is the Raikage's son..." She continued to angrily mumble to herself while O was stuck on the last piece of information I heard.

Son of the Raikage? That wouldn't happen to be...

"His name wouldn't happen to be A would it?" She stopped in the middle of her angry rambling to give me a nod.

"Yeah, you know him?" Now a dark cloud was over _my _head. The Raikage's son, really? The soon to be Raikage is who she wants to prove wrong? Well dream on kid, 'cause it ain't gonna happen.

"Kid, I can already bet all my money on the Raikage's brat." Not that I had money, but metaphorically speaking.

She sulked. "But, shishou!" I cut her off.

"No buts, don't make enemies with people who can kick your ass without even trying!" She pouted.

Oh no, not the puppy eye look, my sister used to pull that one when she wanted something and unfortunately I was a sucker for those eyes.

"Ugh, I will help, but I ain't promising anything. So, he says you can't pass the exams, huh? Well, then..."

I could be doing thing that are much more fun and entertaining. I could be in Konoha and watch that Naruto brat prank people, but no, here I am, clearly some good years away from canon, stuck helping a Kumo-brat with her chunin exams. Oh joy. Me and my big mouth!

_Well, I sincerely hope whoever gave this story a try enjoyed the first chapter! Please do let me know what you think! I am always open for suggestions and/or constructive criticism, but __**no **__flames. I really dislike those. I realize the concept may be a bit strange, but I wanted to try something else, something that doesn't involve romance with my main OC. And this is what came out. _

_Anyway I do hope you guy will tune in for the next chapter of __**Fuzz-ball to the Rescue!**_


	2. Chapter 2

No Beta. (If you're up for the job do message me :)

Chapter 2

"I don't think we are getting anywhere with this, is proving this A wrong so important to you and if so why? Just why would that be your main goal?"

In all honesty I didn't get the girl, while she did appear like she had potential, because truth to be told her taijutsu wasn't that bad when I saw her spar with a dummy; her motivation was a whole other thing. The only reason her hits were even remotely powerful was because they were fuelled by anger, anger at the Raikage's son, but questions is, why did she hate him so much, it couldn't be just because he insulted her? There was something she wasn't telling me and I wasn't about to let it go.

Mariko stared at me before sighing.

"Look kid, there is clearly something you're not telling me. I get it, but first things first. Did you _ever _stop and consider I could be a spy?" Mari-chan, to my utter surprise nodded.

"I did, at first, but then I thought, if you were a spy, why bother with me? I'm nobody important and neither am I familiar with any of the high up shinobi, expect A, but that guy hates my guts so..." She trailed of while giving me a meaningful look. "I considered handing you over to the Raikage. But, you didn't seem interested in getting information, all you did was nag me about my bad ninja skills and call me a failiure, you could have questioned me about my relation with A to get information, yet you only scoffed me about making a dangerous enemy. To me that does not seem like a spy." As I said, damn could that girl talk.

"And what if I only was trying to gain your trust? And by making you a chunin I could get closer to the kage's office as your summoning?" At that her face paled, clearly she had not considered that option.

"Girly, spy's a tricky people, and they are never what they appear to be, often a spy will try to gain your trust before he ends up stabbing you in the back. You gotta be more careful. If you want to you can hand me over the Raikage, if that would make you feel better." In all truth, I just wanted to make sure ANBU don't try to kill me in the middle of the night because somebody found out how I got here.

"I-" She was however cut off by a loud voice.

"Yo, yo, yo, who is this fuzzy-ball, didn't know you had a thing for cats and all." Oh great, the rapping moron of Kumogakure, at your service. Damn it, the last person I needed. Killer B in chibi form. While he looked cute, he was probably still as annoying as ever, god I hate rap.

"B-san, this is my shi- I mean friend, Noriko." I tore my eyes from the blonde rapper to briefly gaze at the girl who just spoke. She was covering me, again, not in her best interest, now I gotta teach her about trusting people too easily.

"O-ha-you, No-ri-ko." MY left eye twitched slightly, _must restrain urge to snap at him._

"Hello." I snapped bluntly as the rapper shut his mouth.

"You're not a friendly one, are you neko-chan?" I just sighed, while his rapping is annoying I did feel bad about snapping, he had it hard enough as a jinchuriki.

"Sorry, I'm not in the best mood. Anyway, weren't we on our way to the kage's office?" I asked the kuoichi who flushed slightly as B glanced at us suspiciously.

"Why would you need to see the old man, rather what all the things B can! Oh yeah!" He rapped all the while moving his hands to a beat only he could hear.

"We just need to see him, I need to talk to him about something."

My resolve was made up, while I was probably going to stay with the girl, I also thought it a good idea to get on the Raikage's good side, which could give me Intel and information. In return I would simply offer to spy for him, which considering my knowledge would be too hard.

"Well, if that is so, I will come with you, yo!" I could tell Mariko was eyeing me suspiciously, but in all honesty I was pretty satisfied with a plan I had just come up with. It did have some flaws, alright, the whole plan was faulty, but hey! You come up with something fast while in my situation!

Self pity on the side, the weird trio of us made our way to the kage's office, much to my displeasure, B continued to rap. I did however notice the glares he received from the villagers, and not only he. Seems like my little friend wasn't liked very much either, but was it because of B or was there something else behind it? Questions, questions, and no end in sight.

...

The kage's office was pretty much like in the anime, only exception was; behind the desk was the Third, not the Forth Raikage.

"What is it you want, B?" Why didn't I have hands to shield my ears with?! Curse you sensitive hearing! Damn was that guy loud.

"I-" I cut him off, not wanting to hear any more of his rapping.

"Actually, Raikage-sama, I came here to talk to you," turning to the brat's I said, "You two can wait outside." They both looked a bit weirded out, then again, it's probably not everyday a cat wants an audience with the Raikage.

The Raikage watched all this silently, only speaking once the kids were out of the room.

"Well, what does a small cat have to say to the Raikage?" While he didn't necessarily sound sarcastic he did sound dubful. I just sighed.

"More then you can imagine." Of course I wasn't about to tell him everything. But, I could always twist the truth. Yeah, I wasn't lying, only bending the truth a bit. Beside's if I played out my card right I could get Kumo to help me out with my plan to mess with the story line, without giving away who I was in the process. Hmm, good plan, let's hope it works.

"I came to Kumo because I have heard of the greatness of this village, and I know how to make it even _better._" If there is one thing I learned then it's when you're negotiating with somebody make sure to point out how great there are and how much better they would be with your idea.

The Raikage was now listening. Good.

"You see, I have some information that I'm sure Kumogakure could benefit from."

The Third gave me a thoughtful look.

"And how would a cat as small as you have such information? Not to mention, even if you did, why pick Kumo and what do you gain from this?"

Damn, that guy goes straight to the point, eh. Oh well.

"Because I'm such a small and unimportant cat I can easily get to information. As to why Kumo, I believe you have the potential to became for greater than ever, far greater than all the other shinobi villages."

Not a total lie, I did always believe Kumo had the potential; they just went for it the wrong way. Sis did always comment on the bad kidnapping attempt at the Hyuuga heiress, due to their lack of Kekkei genkai or when they tried to kidnap Kushina. But, there was a better solution to that. Timing was simply crucial, as a past lawyer I can safely say, I know what I am doing.

Who would have guessed law school could be useful in this world? Well, actually it's more my experience as a lawyer and trust me, we ain't all cheating scum who only look for money, unfortunately, the biggest names are so, people automatically assume just cause you're a lawyer you have no heart... Eh, back to the Raikage.

He was staring at me silently, his peculiar eyes boring into my very soul, like he was analyzing every bit of what I am. Finally he spoke.

"For now, I would like to hear what you have to tell me, I need to know if you're telling the truth about having information and cat..."

"Hai, Raikage-sama?" His eyes bored straight into mine as he spoke.

"I f you betray or lie to me it will be the last thing you do." I just nodded. Oh, I knew that, and didn't dub he would make my end very, _very _painful at best.

...

"How do you know about all the jinchuriki?" He questioned after I was done informing him, while I didn't say much, I said enough to convince him.

"Well, as I said, who would suspect a cat minding her own business, and civilians _can_ be rather stupid." He nodded, satisfied with my explanation.

"Still, what's in it for you?" I purred jumping up on his desk. While he didn't seem to have a problem with seeing me from his seat due to his height, I was just sick of looking up at him, even off he was sitting down, I had been a short human, as a cat I'm even shorter!

"I get to mess with a guy I would love to see dead; you could call it a personal vendetta of sort." The third nodded leaning back in his seat, observing the information in his mind. I patiently waited till he was done.

"So, how do we get those jinchuriki?" I frowned, not good.

"I don't think it's wise to make a move, _just yet._" I added the last bit when his eyes fell on me, damn this guy was scary!

"And why not?"

I sighed. "Well, for once, you have just found a suitable container for Hachibi, right? And that took you really long, imagine what kind of destruction more tailed beats could cause, _especially _the Kyuubi." With that logic he couldn't argue.

"So, what was the point of telling me then?" He muttered, watching.

"Well, I do have a few ideas at hand or rather paw, but that's not important. There is something else I have been meaning to inform you about. And it does concern the tailed beasts." Again, having this man's full attention, while flattering was also very intimidating. "I heard rumours about an organisation, their plan is to capture all tailed beast, what for I do not know yet, but I intend to find out." Here was no point in giving him every bit of the information. I had to be tactical, bit by bit and this plan of mine could work. _Though, that wasn't exactly true yet, it was after the war that Obito took over Akatsuki, but the Raikage doesn't know that and what better motivation for that guy then protecting his village?_

To my surprise the Raikage merely laughed. "Let them come, Kumo will crush them!" I shook my head.

"While I have no dub in Kumo's superior shinobi, I highly dub they can go against the Rinnegan." His eyes widened.

"You got proof for that, the Rinnegan is only a legend!" I shook my head.

"While it is only a rumour," _oh boy, you have no idea, but I can't exactly tell you the truth either,_ "we shouldn't ignore it. It came from pretty reliable sources." Again the Kage of Kumogakure considered my words carefully.

"Who are those sources?" I shook my head.

"I can't tell you for your own and their safety, I can only say that whatever they told me had always been correct. I highly dub they would have alerted me if it was nothing."

_Huh, well, this is risky, imaginary sources, wow, great move dumbass. Oh well, can't really do anything about it now. Hopefully he won't be persistent about it. _

Finally the Raikage nodded. "I will have to call in a meeting about this. I will call you in after we have made a decision whether to trust you or not. Still, why would a summoning want to help, I thought you guy to be the private type." I shrugged.

"You're going to find me most curious, Raikage-sama, I'm not your usually summoning. In fact nothing about me is ordinary, but that is all rather beneficial to you, ne?" He just smirked.

"We will see, cat." I just nodded.

"I will be with the girl, Mariko, that's where you can find me." He gave me a nod.

"You're dismissed." Normally I would have been mad, he didn't even summon me yet he wants to dismiss me? But, this _was _the Third Raikage. Frankly, he could do whatever he damn well wanted. Besides, the Third Shinobi World War was about to star according to my calculations; I had no time to lose. After all, round this time Akatsuki was formed originally.

Ah, well, I guess I get to go and plan.

...

"Alright kid, spit it out, you have been unusually quite." While I appreciated the quite it was just way to weird with the hyperactive kunoichi I decided to train.

"Nothing." She muttered still sulking before she made a drastic change in her mood.

"So, how was the meeting with the Raikage?" I titled my head to the side. I was going to have to investigate, but I was pretty sure it had something to do with everything I had seen. Oh, this was almost like one of my court cases. How fun.

"Ah, the meeting went fine, I guess, but the final verdict about my stay will be tomorrow." She nodded.

"You think they will let you?" I shrugged.

"I honestly have no idea. Either way I don't think I will walk out of this village easily." She seemed confused by my words, but didn't question which I was grateful for.

Let's face it, if they let me stay, they will keep me inside the village to determine if I was trust worthy, if they chose not to trust me, I highly dub I will leave this place alive.

"Oi, brat! Enough sulking, back to training!"

"But shishou-," I glared.

"No buts! You wanna pass the exams, start training. I wanna see fifty push-ups, on each hand!" Her eyes widened.

"Bu-" A single glare cut her off. Damn, I liked having power and it was fun to mess with the girl, she was too easy. But, sooner or later I would find out the reason for her strange behaviour. Yeah, there's got to be a reason. Nobody takes orders from a cat unless they have a damn good reason for it.

...

_**Again, reviews are appreciated!**_

_Not really an eventful chapter, but things start to get fun after the third one, so hope you can bear with me. Yes, Noriko does appear to be taking things lightly, but she is rather cool headed and likes to observe before making a rash decision. She is an analytic sort of person, eh, cat, but likes to manipulate people without them realizing it, to do her biding for her. She doesn't do it out of spite or to harm anybody (well, except Madara, but let's be serious, who wouldn't harm that guy?), she simply enjoys teasing people, but hates oblivious people when she doesn't have need for them. A bit confusing I know, but Noriko wasn't designed to be a character in the spot lightly. You will see her manipulate other character into doing stuff to change the story, only a few people will actually know its Noriko's doing. Ah, she is weird, I know, but somehow I can't help but like her._

_I think I suck at B's rhymes, why does it have to be so hard to rhyme! Yeah, so sorry if it sounded weird! ^^'_

_REVIEWS:_

Radiant Celestial Aura: Thank you for the comment! I just didn't want to create a Mary-Sue and this conept came out, what can I say, it will be a challenge, if you can see it's going down-hill tips and suggestions would be appreciated. :)

saashi samy: Thank you dear! I do hope you enjoyed this chapter as well :D

Crys: Nah, Noriko is to calculative to meet trouble (which doesn't mean she won't find any, trust me, nobody has perfect luck), but she will not be exactly welcomed in the village for a while and everybody will be rather suspicious, but hey, Kumo isn't know to welcome outsider's with open arms, right? ;) Thanks for the suggestion, if you have any more do please say :D

Elisa1020: Thank you! :D


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Finally back at her apartment I sat the girl down in front of me. I could tell she was exhausted and probably wanted to do nothing more than sleep, but first I needed to know a few things.

"Alright brat, I have had it with the attitude change, either you tell me what happened or I will force it out of you." Alright, I probably had no means to _force it out of her, _but she still took the threat to heart.

"I- it's nothing really."

I made a humming tone in the back of my throat, glaring at the teenager in front of me. "I don't believe you. But, I can probably guess it has something to do with that A guy, right?" The look in her eyes darkened slightly confirming my suspicions.

"Look here kid, whatever he said, does it really matter so much. It's not like you're in love with him or anything… You aren't right?"

She scoffed. "Of course not, who could ever like that arrogant prick anyway! I- It has nothing to do with him personally. I can guess you noticed the looks I get round the village?" I nodded, I have been meaning to ask her, but deemed it best if she told me herself.

"Well, Kumo doesn't like outsiders much…" _That's kind of a given, but go on_," …so people don't like me because I was originally born in Yukigakure as were my parents. My aunt has the same problem, but she can handle it better and at least has _some _friends." I title me head to the side, curiosity taking over.

"What about that B fellow? Isn't he your friend, or your teammates? And if that doesn't work, then I guess… _I _will be your friend." She gave me a tiny smile.

"Thank you." She muttered quietly.

"Though," I began gaining her attention again," why are you friend with B? The villagers don't like him much either by my observation."

A frown made its way across her face, her eyes down casted, wailed by shadows. "That is kind of a secret and I don't know whether I should tell you…" I sighed.

"I know he is a jinchuriki, just wasn't sure if you did." I stated as I watched her nod.

"I see. Well, I came here a few years ago, before B-san became a jinchuriki. I met him through A, since he adopted him as a brother. They are a tag team, its tradition for the next in line for Raikage, but I guess you knew that." At my nod she continued."Well, I'm ashamed to admit that if it weren't for the fact that I had been an outsider and craved some sort of friendship I would have pushed B-san away like everybody else…"

"But, you didn't and that's all that matters." She gave a small smile.

"Aren't you afraid of him, shishou?" There we go again with that master nonsense, but I guess I get it now, she is just lonely, and nobody trusts her. She is an outsider, but hey, so was I.

"I have no reason to be. And he seems fine, though his rapping could use _mayor _improvement." Well at least I got her laughing again.

"That's true. Even A doesn't like his rapping."

"oi, girly, what's your obsession with A, anyway?" She rubbed the back of her head.

"He was one of the first to say outsider like me shouldn't be trusted and could never become a Kumo shinobi, or in my case kunoichi." I frowned. That does slightly sound like A though I never knew much about him, expect his loyalty for his brother, comrade and Kumogakure in general. And Mariko was genuinely upset about it too.

"Don't worry kid, it's not about proving him wrong, you gotta prove yourself wrong first." Her confused expression seemed to be a routine by now when we spoke.

"Prove myself wrong?" I nodded.

"If you believe you're an outsider, don't expect others to think you're not." And with those words we feel into silence.

…

"Well, you could sleep on my bed? " Ah, Mariko, such a sweet innocent kid, too bad as a ninja that won't help her. Especially being a ninja of Kumogakure.

"Kid, I'm a cat. I can virtually sleep anywhere. Besides, I wasn't going to bed right now anyway. Just go to sleep. I will be here in the morning." Mariko gave me a single long look, before nodding and going to her room.

Now, with her out of my way, I can finally start planning for tomorrow. If you think I convinced the Raikage, then you have a surprise coming at you. Like hell! I could see it in his eyes; he did not take me serious at all, then again… He seemed curious enough. Curious enough to investigate, that is. Something else, however bothered me.

He was surprised when I revealed the location of the nine tails, shouldn't he have know that one? I mean, isn't he the one who ordered Kushina to be kidnapped? I'm not sure, it may have been A's idea after all. Let's do the math.

Alright.

We will start with the only age I know. In Shippuden B was 35 years old. That makes him, hmm, 19 when the Kyuubi attack happens. Right now I would say he was round 6-7. Which mean the Kyuubi attack isn't happening for another 10 years at last. Still, Kushina was kidnapped when she was 12. Damn it I wish I knew how old she was when she gave birth to Naruto. Hmm, that technically mean the kidnap attempt was either already made or is about to be made. I somehow don't like this. If the Raikage had no sources on the jinchuriki then how did he find out about them? This is all too strange for my liking.

One thing for sure, I'm starting to dub the old man ever ordered Kushina's kidnapping in the first place. But, if Konoha has somebody like Danzo, then maybe Kumo has too? I will have to investigate this, but later, right now it would just be way too suspicious.

…

"Oi, brat, wake up!"

Mariko steered, rolled over, but did not wake up. I sighed. I was a cat, too bad, if I was human I would sure as hell get a bucket of cold water and pour it over her.

"Brat! You're late for training."

Last night before she went to bed Mariko told me about her team mates. In all honestly. Both sounded… interesting, for a lack of better word.

First she named a quite boy named Katsumi. According to her Katsumi was sort of a prodigy in his clan, while they had no kekkei genkai, that clan was specialized in the use of lightning ninjutsu, so the boy had already a huge advantage. He was described to me as having white, chin length hair and lavender eyes (with pupil, he is not a Hyuuga, sadly).

Next was Riza. Now Riza seemed interesting. He was described as a lazy ass who did virtually nothing and liked to nap more than train (who does this remind me of again?). While he was a lazy ass he was not weak. According to Mariko they boy was most skilled in taijutsu. He had shoulder length orange hair and green eyes, his nose and cheeks covered in freckles, giving him a more boyish and childish appearance.

That being said her teammates were close to mid-range attack. That means the best deal for Mariko would be to become a wide range attack. Sadly she had no skill in those areas either. Guess I gotta go explore the library after the whole deal with the Raikage that is, if he doesn't kill me first.

Her sense was a whole other matter. She was not somebody I was familiar with. Her name was apparently Midori, she had light brown hair tied in a low ponytail and dark brown, nearly black eyes, with tanned skin and used yellow eye shadow (yes, the kid could be very detailed when promted, at least she was good at paying attention to details, that was a plus). Her weapon of choice was supposedly a small boomerang that she swung channeling chakra into it. According to Mariko it created quite a forceful attack, being able to slice solid objects. As for her personality, I was only told she was an _interesting personality. _Oh joy, more interesting people, I just hoped she was nothing like Gai.

"BRAT; WAKE UP!" Alright, that was the loudest such small lung can get, but hey, it got the job done.

"AHH!" After her girly scream she proceeded with falling of the bed, cursing loudly.

I simply chuckled.

"Get up, or do you really wanna be late? What kind of impression are you trying to make here?" I sighed at her dazed, still half asleep gaze. "Forget it, they probably already know anyway."

…

The scene we arrived in was… colorful. To say the least. Who I'm guessing is Riza was sound asleep on the trainings grounds, arms crossed behind his head, serving as a pillow, next to him was the white haired boy, Katsumi, glaring daggers at the sleeping male. And behind them, to my sheer horror was their instructor, reading a book, looking every bit like Kakashi, with her lay back attitude and complete ignorance over the situation.

"You're late, Mariko-san." She said simply, her voice was neutral, to say the least. While not emotionless, it did sound exactly friendly either.

Beside me Mariko sulked before walking over to her teammates. "Ohayo, Katsumi-san, Riza-san," she greeted politely. Katsumi gave her a simple nod before continuing to glare at Riza, who remained asleep, not even as much as twitching.

Please tell me you're kidding. This has got to be some kind of joke. Katsumi was like a bad mix of Neji and Sasuke, while Riza seemed to be a mix of Shikamaru and well, not sure, let's see when he wakes up. Mariko was just plainly nuts, but kind of like Kushina now that I think about it. You know, an outsider and all that.

"This is my friend, Noriko." She said gesturing towards me. Again, the silent one nodded, the other _still _asleep.

I sighed, and walked over to the sensei.

"Oi!" She didn't bother even looking at me just asked rudely, what.

"Aren't you going to train them?" I asked shortly. She shrugged.

"Tried to, Katsumi is to self absorbed with being in a clan he thinks he knows it all, Riza is just plainly too lazy and Mariko is…" She trailed of finally looking at me.

"Oi, who are you?" I nearly fell over in surprise.

"My name is Noriko. Mariko-san's summon I guess." She raised a brow.

"You guess?" I shrugged.

"It's complicated." The jonin merely shrugged.

"Did think the kid could even perform a summoning jutsu." I shrugged, grinning.

"I don't doubt it, since you're not teaching them anything." She raised a brow, glare in place. Oh, that can't scare me; I got glared at by much scarier people.

"Oh, and you could do better?" I shrugged.

"At least I would try." She huffed before nodding.

"Then try." I glared.

"I will!" She just made a humming noise before returning to her book.

…

"Alright brats, listen up!" The two genin who were awake snapped their head up to me, one glaring the other looking confused. I sighed walked over to the sleeping kid and jumped on his face, scratching wildly.

"AHHHHH! GET IT OF! GET IT OF!" I kept my grip on his face before finally releasing it and jumping backwards. You would be surprised at how much better reflexes a cat has, not to mention the sight and hearing, but enough about that. Right now, let's get down to business.

"Why should we listen to a cat?" Ah snotty brat he is.

"I don't care if you do, however, if you want to at least have a chance at passing the chunin exams then you listen, if not, it's your choice, I won't force you." Katsumi snorted before glaring.

"I don't need this." Then promptly turned on his heels and walked over to their boring sense, sitting down at a base of a rock. I sighed. One down.

"Like hell I will listen to a _pet! _And you woke me up!" She yelled pointing at me. I just rolled my eyes. He too walked over to join his teammate. That left me and Mariko. They don't wanna train, fine by me!

From the corner of my eyes I could see the self satisfied smile of the jonin leader, Midori.  
"Oi, Mariko, you in?" She snapped her somewhat sad gaze from her teammates back to me before nodding.

"Hai!"

I grinned.

"Alright, let's get started!"

…

"First thing I'm going to teach you is a form of self defense know as karate." She title her head to the side.

"Taijutsu?" At my nod she smiled.

"Alright, let's do it!"

…

It took about half an hour of me positioning and correcting Mariko's stance until one of the boys approached us.

"Oi, what kind of technique is that?" Riza's voice cut into the silence.

"Karate!" Answered the brunette beside me. I sighed. Overly enthusiastic.

"You messed up your stance again."

"Sorry!"

"Hn, it's different then how they thought us at the academy." I will translate that as, it seems interesting and I wanna try it.

"Mariko, show him the basics."

…

Two more hours passed. Two hours in which the two genin finally started sparring, Riza clearly having the upper hand, but Mariko wasn't that bad either. Finally the silent one approached us, not looking entirely happy about it.

He came over and stared me down. I sighed.

"You wanted something?" He nodded over to his two teammates.

"Ah, but you gotta ask politely." I said in a sing-song voice. He glared. I said nothing. We stared at each other. Finally he sighed.

"Can you _please _teach me, neko-san?" I sighed.

"It's Noriko. And fine, since you asked so _nicely _I will do it." He gave me a 'hn' in return. Ah great, another monosyllabic jerk. How fantastic.

…

An hour more passed and those tree looked like they were actually trying to get to know each other. Well, next exercise will be team work, but it's too late for that today. Beside, having them actually do something seems like a great improvement.

"Interesting way of teaching, Noriko-san." I'm guessing I was supposed to take that as a compliment so I merely nodded. "At first they even listened to me, to some extent, but later everything kind of went chaotic, for a lack of better term."

I nodded. "Yeah, I will try to work on team work next, but it will be hard seeing as I'm a cat, so I have a suggestion, jonin-san."

She nodded. "All ears, Noriko-san."

…

Half an hour later Midori-san was going to call it a day when suddenly an ANBU appeared out of nowhere.

"I'm looking for Noriko-san."

"That would be me!" He looked down and I could just imagine the confused expression. Oh, boy, they probably did not tell him I was a cat.

"Eh, yes- Ahem, please follow me. Raikage-sama wants to talk to you."I gave a short nod.

"I will see you later brat." She just gave me a small wave an uncertain smile on her face. I just shook it of an concentrated on the meeting to be.

…

_Ohayo people, thanks to everybody who faved or followed this story, you guys are awesome! Now on to some of the most asked questions, __**yes **__I will be changing some mayor plot point, yes this fic will turn AU at some point, but that was the point to see how much Noriko could change. Honestly, it would be kind of boring to keep everything the same. Next one would be, yes people are suspicious of Noriko, you will see that in the next chapter, however summons aren't that rare, and them having knowledge of the ninja arts is not rare as well. Noriko will not be trust for a long while, but don't worry, thing will change for both her and Mariko. Now as for Noriko getting in trouble. She is a cat, a __**very pretty cat, **__and as such I may add a few situations about that. Some will mean a lot trouble for Noriko and some will be quite useful. But, not to give away too much, that's all I'm saying for now._

_**REVIEWS:  
**_

_**Radiant Celestial Aura: Thank you! Yes, situations like that will happen, but not to reveal too much ;) Thank you for putting that idea in my head, I have been thinking about something similar, your review helped :)**_

_**Crys: :D Well, know you know, Mariko is kind of like Kushina was in Konoha, but that will change ;)**_

_**saashi samy: Thank you so much dear! :)**_

_**Meatbun Attack: Well, I think I already answered that, next chapter will explain everything in detail :D**_

_**1412 karasu: Thank you for pointing that out, wasn't aware of that :) She had a meeting with A's father, not A, A is still a teenager and becomes Raikage later on. As for the meeting, you will have a chapter long meeting next time, this meeting was only to interest the Third Raikage so he could disscuss it with his shinobi council :) Hope that clears it up :)**_


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto!

Chapter 4

3rd POV

Noriko gazed round the room taking everything in, now that the initial shook of a cat as a spymaster went by. While Noriko had been amused by those reactions at first now it has just gotten plain annoying.

The room was long, a table running in the middle down its length. Sitting on either side were various people, and as Noriko noted they were mostly if not all of the high ranking shinobi of the Hidden Cloud Village. While most of them had poker faces on, some of them had doubtful expressions, and Noriko's sharp hearing could pick up some insults on her as well as surprisingly enough, on the Raikage's behalf, though the latter were silenced by other shinobi.

"ENOUGH!" The loud booming voice of the Raikage effectively stopped the whispering in the room. All focus landing on the imposing man they called their Kage.

Noriko didn't even flitch, she just closed her eyes. The people round her were still too loud for the cat's liking.

Noriko's critical eyes kept analyzing people in the room, she really didn't know what to think of this situation, but one thing she knew for sure, there was no going back now. Only last night did she realize her mistake about telling the Raikage of Akatsuki. She had finally remembered that they did not start looking for the bij u until after the third war, and not even then was it widely known until they started with Naruto and then afterwards captured Gaara. However, Noriko wasn't stupid either. She knew how to use lies and false information to her advantage. Now after she convinced the council of her credibility she will have to convince the Raikage to let her leave the damn village so she could go information hunting.

"Raikage-sama, with all due respect, you can't be serious." Noriko didn't even glance at the man, she merely lifted her paw to examine it as she listened to the Raikage.

The Raikage of course glared, the look only intensified by his oddly coloured eyes. "_With all due respect," _sarcasm heavily dripping from the stoic man's voice, "I don't care. Now be QUIET!"

With the mumbling finally stopped Noriko turned to watch the room again, assessing people in it. To her most of them looked average, the kind of faces you would pass by and wouldn't look or think twice about them. But one man did stick out to her, even if only for the fact that the white hair and lavender eyes were a death giveaway. Come to think of it, when you looked closer he did resemble Katsumi, or rather the boy resembled this man greatly.

That man was Yasuhiro, Katsumi's father and head of the Ohitsuji Clan. He was a stoic man, rarely smiled and was never (not even by the people who consider him a friend) heard laughing. If you asked, people would say that he used to be pleasant company, never too loud, never resentful, never said anything wrong. Then tragedy struck the, then young man, as his wife died shortly after child birth, and his older brother was killed a year later on a mission to Mizu No Kuni, making him the new Clan head. Yasuhiro never desired the position, but after being pushed from all sides, especially the Clan Elders he had no choice but to accept.

And while he didn't necessarily neglect Katsumi, the boy didn't get to see much of his father while growing up either. He was mostly taught by other high ranking members of the Clan's Main Branch and never once questioned his lineage. But not having the love and understanding that only a mother could offer may have done some damage on the boys mind.

Noriko raised an invisible brow as the man spoke up drawing in the attention of the whole room.

"I believe we should let Noriko-san talk, after all I'm highly interested in those _beneficial _pieces ofinformation she is offering." Noriko noted the slight amusement in the man's eyes as the room looked at him in slight shock. Either he didn't talk much or what he said had been unexpected in the least to draw such a reaction from those round him, noted the observant cat.

Noriko purred before glancing at the Raikage to confirm it was alright to talk.

"Well, I hope the Raikage filled you in on what I told him…" The cat was cut off by a loud mouthed shinobi sitting further down the table on the opposite side of Yasuhiro.

"We have already tried taking the Kyuubi, what makes you believe we could take the other biju." Noriko scoffed, the attention of the room shifting back to the cat sitting on the head of the table in front of the Raikage. _SO, they have already attempted it, well, that means I need to have another conversation with the Raikage._

"First of I never suggested taking any of the other biju, besides you already have two and I don't see you getting _along _with them, now imagine adding more to the mix? I don't think so," scoffed the cat, her eyes narrowing dangerously before she returned them to their normal state," I would like to offer my assistance in gathering information. By telling you about the biju I was merely showing the fact that I could get to sensitive information of other villages. If Kumogakure isn't interested then I suppose another hidden village would…?" She trailed of as the sound of muttering and whispers filled the room.

Smugly she turned to the Raikage who was discussing something with what seemed to be him adviser. Noriko knew that this meeting was not over in the slightest, but hey, progress was progress, no matter how you looked at it.

…

Mariko sighed for what seemed to be the hundredth time as she stared at the spot Noriko _claimed _as her own on the couch, like her staring could make the cat magically appear there. She fiddled with her fingers, glanced from the door to the window, unsure of how her shishou planned to return. She was a cat, and cats _were _unpredictable so…

"Maybe I should take a walk, clear my mind and stuff. Maybe work on that self confidence shishou was talking about…" She trailed of making her resolve and stood up walking out the door.

On her way through the village, Mariko spotted a usual thing, Bee being glared at by every villager round him. Then a group of older boy appeared, seemingly ready to _take care of the demon brat. _Mariko sighed, a frown on her face. _Where is A, he is usually at the ready to keep B safe, _she wondered watching with narrowed eyes as the scene unfolded. Then she remembered what Noriko had told her the previous day.

_To them, he is nothing but the biju himself. To himself he is just a misunderstood boy. The question is, what is he to you?_

_A friend. _She though gathering the courage to go and help her friend.

…

"We have decided to give you a chance, Noriko-san." Said Katsumi's father, he somehow seemed to be the most respected here and Noriko wasn't about to argue that fact, the man just let of a dangerous aura to begin with.

Noriko let a small smirk grace her face. How endearing. She was in for a ride, that was for sure, but she needed more time to plan.

"Anything particular you want to know about?" Katsumi's father shook his head.

"No, but be at alert, we may be needing your assistance very soon. Raikage-sama, if you will excuse me, I think this meeting is over." He said glancing at his Kage. The Third nodded before dismissing the whole thing.

Noriko told the Raikage that she was currently staying with Tachibana Mariko, so if he needed her he could find her there, but not before agreeing to meet again tomorrow. After that she left. It had been a tiresome day after all.

…

When Noriko returned home she was greeted by the sight of a bloody and beaten Mariko sitting on the couch, staring at the wall ahead of her. That wasn't what threw Noriko of, it was the fact that she was grinning, like she had won the lottery!

"Oi, brat, what's up with you?"

Her shishou's rude voice snapped the young kunoichi right back into reality. Blinking she looked round until her eyes finally landed on the confused face of the cat.

"Nothing…" muttered the girl breathlessly only adding to Noriko's growing confusion.

"And trees grow upside down… What happened? Got into a fight?" Before Noriko had even finished Mariko had returned back to her little fantasy world. She couldn't have looked happier.

To Noriko she couldn't have looked more ridiculous, that big grin stretched out on her bruised face. Noriko's ears twitched, her tail swished, her eye twitched before she finally couldn't take _not knowing _anymore.

"TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED; DAMN IT!"

Next thing you know Mariko fell of the couch from shock while Noriko grinned proudly to herself. _Still got it, _she thought with glee.

…

"But Bro, she helped me! She is my friend!"

A who was still glaring at the ground didn't pay much mind to young B's rambling, rather his thoughts were focused on the events that had transpired a couple hours ago.

Now, it wasn't that he hated the damn girl, even if she was weak, A wouldn't stoop so low. What he was, however irritated by was the fact that she wasn't originally a Kumo shinobi and even that would have been fine if she wasn't fucking useless. No kunoichi should be that damn clumsy.

He sighed and rubbed his face. He knew that wasn't it. When B had started rambling about making a new friend A had been curious, after the Gyuuki had been sealed within him nobody really wanted to be his friend so of course he wanted to meet that mysterious friend of his. He just didn't expect it to be _her. _

When he had first made that comment about her being an outsider and not fit to be a Kumo kunoichi, he had expected her to back down and accept the truth, but it was never that easy, was it? Oh no, she just had to be difficult and try to prove him wrong. Day in day out he heard from B how she trained, albeit not very successful training but still. Although, today she did prove to be good, acceptable taijutsu in A's book. Plus, she had defended B from the shinobi bullies who would be facing punishment. He hadn't interfered; he wanted to see if she was truly as pathetic as when she barely graduated the academy. And while she still didn't present any formidable skills she _had _gotten better, it was even rumored she could perform a summoning jutsu, a fact he planned to get out of his father later. He had almost even thought of thanking her, _almost. _But then that damn brat Katsumi had to appear! Seriously, he didn't even know that brat was in a team.

Back when A was in the academy it was rumored that Katsumi would graduate early, that he was a prodigy of his clan. Later he heard from his father that Katsumi's father refused to let him graduate early, for reasons unknown, otherwise he may have graduated the same time A did. But one fact A knew, that kid didn't have _friends, _he just wasn't social, so why did he defend _her _of all people. Mariko was nothing special! She was an outsider and a useless kunoichi, so why did Katsumi look so damn interested in her?! It just didn't add up. And the way Katsumi had glared at _him! _Who did that kid think he was? Then their other teammate, whom A knew nothing about appeared and dared look at him like he had beaten up Mariko, albeit he didn't help either, but you know what!? It wasn't his fault. It just wasn't…

"Brother?" A looked up at his adoptive brother before managing a small smile and then ruffled his hair affectionaly.

"I'm fine. It's alright, I can't forbid you from being friends with her, I just… Never mind. Let's just go home." B just nodded still confused about his brother's strange behavior.

…

Noriko's POV

"Well, that sure is a story you got there. So Katsumi helped you out and then even Riza came? I thought that kid spend most his time asleep." Mariko just nodded a pleased smile on her lips.

"Shishou, I have friends!" She sounded so happy that I couldn't help but smile, but only for a second, got a reputation to keep up. I can't go soft on the kid now!"

"That's great, that means you will rock the exercise I have planned for tomorrow." I said overly cheerfully, showing her a fanged smile. When I heard her gulp nervously, I barely restrained the satisfied smirk that was mingling its way onto my face.

_I think I might actually like this place, if only a little… _A voice cut of any further thoughts.

"_Oi, Mariko, I'm home!" _

...

**Hello there, people of the internet, I do hope you enjoyed the newest chapter because from now things are about to become a lot more interesting! If you have any suggestions, feel free to message me!**

**REVIEWS:  
**ninja-of-twilight: Thank you so much!

Ketsueko: Aw, thank you! As for A hating strangers, well, read and see ;P, but no I'm not going to as explained in this chapter, he isn't totally against them. As for Noriko learning any jutsus, I'm still thinking about it, but more likely no. Anyway, thank you for reviewing!

**Thanks to anybody who followed/favourite and especially reviewed this story!**


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